Fences

Animals

To protect your pets or livestock, not to mention costly impoundment fees, keep them confined to your property with secure fencing. Check your fencing and gates regularly – they should be properly maintained.

Council laws are in place to protect both your animals and the safety of the public, particularly when animals wander onto roads. For penalties, see: Animals at Large

Building a fence on your property

You will need a building permit if you are constructing:

a side or boundary fence more than 2m in height

a brick front fence more than 1.2m in height, within 3m of a street alignment and located on, or facing, that street alignment

a fence that is more than 1m high and less than 9m from the point of intersection of street alignments (i.e. within 9m of the intersection of the street title boundaries at a corner – specific Council consent is also required)

a fence forming part of a safety barrier for a swimming pool and/or spa

Tennis court fences

Building estates

In some cases where the property is on a new estate, approval from the estate developer may be required as there may be restrictive covenants registered against the allotment.

Dealing with neighbours

If you would like to make contact with your neighbours to discuss shared fencing, you can apply to request their contact details via our form (available in Word(DOCX, 151KB) and PDF(PDF, 1MB)).

If you have a dispute with a neighbour regarding fencing, seek legal advice. Council does not deal with fencing disputes.

The Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria can help you with dispute resolution around neighbourhood issues such as fences, noise, pets, trees property damage or behaviour. Phone 5440 6100 or 1300 372 888 (free call for country callers).